Sarah A. Westby
she/her/hers
Partner
Sarah is Chair of Shipman’s Cannabis Team and a partner in our Employment and Labor Practice Group. She counsels clients on a wide variety of employment matters, including discrimination, medical leave, sexual harassment, compensation, termination, severance, vaccination and COVID-19 protocols, and workplace safety. Sarah also represents employers in employment-related litigation, with significant experience litigating cases in state and federal court, before administrative agencies such as the Connecticut Commission on Human Rights and Opportunities, and through alternate dispute resolution. For cannabis clients, Sarah advises on formation and management of a cannabis business, interpretation of state and federal cannabis laws, social equity qualifications and partnerships, business-related disputes, employment matters and contracts.
Sarah takes a 360-degree view of each case, considering her clients' budget, business values, risk appetite, reputation, and concerns for precedent-setting action. While she is always prepared to try a case, Sarah recognizes that early dispute resolution is often in the best interests of her clients. She values collaborative work in all types of settings ranging from small teams to large "virtual" law firms. Sarah also has a strong background in complex litigation representing clients in antitrust, product liability, and medical malpractice cases. This experience includes trying several multi-million dollar cases to verdict and representing clients through post-trial proceedings.
Sarah’s practice also includes representing clients pro bono in immigration, domestic violence, and child protection cases through partnerships with Lawyers for Children America, the Connecticut Coalition Against Domestic Violence, and the American Civil Liberties Union. She has assisted clients with applications for asylum in the United States and civil restraining orders in Connecticut.
Outside of Sarah’s legal practice, she serves as Vice Chairman of the Board of Directors for Simply Smiles, Inc., a not-for-profit organization that builds villages of foster homes in Native communities. She helped secure a land lease for a new village on the Cheyenne River Sioux Tribe Reservation in South Dakota, where Simply Smiles is building a first-of-its-kind intentional community of foster families for Native children. Significantly, Sarah created an employment structure to professionalize the organization’s foster parenting program by crafting complex, unique job descriptions, employment agreements, and housing agreements, to address the specific needs of Native foster children and the demands of living on the Reservation. Building this operational model was paramount to the creation of the Village but doing so was an undertaking without a road map and with many possible pitfalls. Sarah worked tirelessly for months (including traveling to South Dakota), lending her vision and talents to create an employment structure that complied with state, federal, and tribal law.
Credentials
Education
- Brooklyn Law School, J.D., 2011, cum laude
- University of Delaware, 2008, magna cum laude
Bar Admissions
- Connecticut
- New York
Court Admissions
- U.S. District Court, Southern District of NY
- U.S. District Court, District of CT
- U.S. District Court, Eastern District of NY
- U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit
Distinctions
- Listed as a Connecticut Super Lawyer Rising Star®: Employment Litigation: Defense (2023); Employment Litigation (2021-2022); Personal Injury - Products: Defense (2018-2020)
- Connecticut Cannabis Chamber of Commerce - Attorney of the Year (2023)
- New Leader in the Law, Connecticut Law Tribune (2022)
- Brooklyn Journal of International Law, Executive Board
- CALI Excellence Awards: Trial Advocacy; International Business Transactions
- University of Iowa 2010 Trandafir International Business Writing Competition Award
- International Economic Law Graduate Award
- Phi Beta Kappa - Alpha Chapter of Delaware
Professional Affiliations
- DRI, The Voice of the Defense Bar: Young Lawyers Committee; Women in the Law Committee; Medical Liability and Healthcare Law Committee; Cannabis Law Committee
- American Bar Association: Product Liability Section
- Connecticut Bar Association: Litigation Section
- New York City Bar Association
- New York State Bar Association
Community Involvement
- Simply Smiles, Inc., Board Secretary (2016-2018), Vice Chairman of the Board (2019-present)
- Connecticut Women's Council, Member
- Fred D. Wish School Volunteer Tutor Program
- Leadership Greater Hartford, Quest Class 2018; Hartford Summer Youth Employment Initiative, Member